The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 3.8 million concussions and sports-related mild traumatic brain injuries (“MTBI”) occur each year. Concussions, and in many instances, mild traumatic brain injuries, particularly when repeated multiple times, significantly threaten the long-term health of an athlete. The health care costs associated with sports-related traumatic brain injuries are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
As is well known in the art, a concussion is an alteration of consciousness, disturbance in vision and equilibrium caused by a direct blow to the head, rapid acceleration and/or deceleration of the head, or direct blow to the base of the skull from a vertical impact to the chin. Concussions result in complications including severe headaches, dizziness, earaches, facial pain, ringing in the ears, nausea, irritability, confusion, disorientation, dizziness, amnesia, concentration difficulty, blurred vision, sleep disturbance, increased size of one pupil, severe weakness in an arm or leg, photophobia, vertigo, impaired speech and permanent brain damage.
A MTBI is also a traumatically induced alteration in brain function that is manifested by an alteration of awareness or consciousness, including, but not limited to, loss of consciousness, “ding,” sensation of being dazed or stunned, sensation of “wooziness” or “fogginess,” seizure, or amnesic period; and signs and symptoms commonly associated with post-concussion syndrome.
The CDC estimates that approximately one-third, i.e. 1.2 million, of the concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries (hereinafter “sports-related traumatic brain injuries”), which are “diagnosed” annually, occur playing football. Approximately 63,000 of the sports-related traumatic brain injuries occur annually among high school varsity athletes, with football accounting for about 63% of the cases. Sports-related traumatic brain injuries in hockey affect 10% of the athletes and make up 12%-14% of all injuries.
For example, a typical range of 4-6 sports-related traumatic brain injuries per year in a football team of 90 players (7%), and 6 per year from a hockey team with 28 players (21%) is not uncommon. In rugby, a sports-related traumatic brain injury can affect as many as 40% of players on a team each year.
As indicated, nearly 1.2 million sports-related traumatic brain injuries that are diagnosed annually occur playing football. Since many sports-related traumatic brain injuries go undetected, it is, however, believed that over 2 million football players suffer at least one sports-related traumatic brain injury each season.
Undetected sports-related traumatic brain injuries result from several factors. First, many athletes, particularly, professional athletes, often attempt to “shake it off” when they are hurt to maintain their playing status.
Second, over one-half (½) of high school football teams do not have access to a certified athletic trainer to assess on-field head injuries and/or determine when a player is attempting to mask symptoms of a sports-related traumatic brain injury.
Third, coaches and athletic trainers often do not have access to appropriate tools to monitor, track and/or quantify potentially harmful impacts.
As a result, it is estimated that nearly 80% of sports-related traumatic brain injuries that occur playing football go undetected.
It is also estimated that one-half (½) or more of the sports-related traumatic brain injuries are the result of blows proximate the lower jaw. Indeed, the CDC estimates that approximately 75% of the sports-related traumatic brain injuries that occur while playing football are the result of the lower jaw relaying the shock of impact to the brain.
Considerable research has thus been directed to developing means for dissipating the impact forces applied to the jaw. In 1964, seminal research by Stenger, et. al. indicated that forces from temporomandibular impact could be attenuated with a mouth guard (see Stenger, et al., Mouth guards: Protection Against Shock to the Head, Neck and Teeth, J. Am Dent Assoc, vol. 69, pp. 273-81 (1964)).
Various mouth guard designs have thus been developed to dissipate impact forces and/or shocks to the jaw. Illustrative are the custom mouth guards disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,931,164, 3,532,091, 4,672,959, and 5,339,832.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,164 (Kiely, et al.) discloses an athletic mouth guard including a U-shaped base portion, an upwardly projecting inner flange portion joined to an inner edge of the base portion and an upwardly projecting outer flange portion joined to an outer edge of the base portion. The Kiely, et al. mouth guard is molded from a composition including a light pervious foundation material and a light reflective aggregate distributed throughout the foundation material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,532,091 (Lerman) discloses a mouth guard that includes a relatively large closed passage-providing portion containing a fluid, either a liquid or a gas. The passage-providing portion is disposed either adjacent the labial surface of the teeth, between the occlusal surfaces of the upper and lower teeth, or in both positions. The closed fluid passage hydrostatically distributes forces exerted at one point thereon over a much greater area, thereby decreasing the detrimental effect of the blow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,959 (May, et al.) discloses a mouth guard that includes a lens-like brace integrally formed in the outer upstanding portion of the elongated shell and positioned on the outer surface of the anterior teeth. The May mouthpiece further includes a thickened connecting portion overlying the biting surface of the posterior teeth to help prevent concussion and to lessen the shock to the tempro mandibular joint in the event of a blow to either the jaw or head.
Indentations are also formed in the thickened connecting portion opposite to the biting surfaces of the user's upper teeth. The indentations have a size and shape complementary to and for receiving the user's lower teeth to form an occlusal index for positioning the user's lower teeth, helping to eliminate the trauma of a blow to the side of the jaw.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,832 (Kittelsen, et al.) discloses a composite mouth guard having a tough, softenable thermoplastic mouth guard portion with a U-shaped base having upwardly extending inner lingual and outer labial walls. A shock absorbing and attenuating non-softening, resilient, low compression, elastomer framework is embedded in the mouth guard portion to absorb, attenuate and dissipate shock forces exerted on the mouth guard.
The Kittelsen, et al. framework also includes posterior cushion pads within the posterior portions of a U-shaped base with enlarged portions in the bicuspid and molar regions of the teeth to fit on the bicuspid teeth adjacent the canine teeth and in the area of the first adult molars, respectively. The cushion pads and enlarged portions, inter alia, prohibit the user from biting too deeply into the soft thermoplastic ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) of the mouth guard portion and to ensure that there is no excessive upward displacement of the anterior portions of the lower mandible.
A transition support portion extends forwardly from the posterior cushion pads and connects to an anterior impact brace. The anterior impact brace has rearwardly protruding anterior cushion pads extending through the upward outer labial wall and contact the anterior teeth of the upper jaw to attenuate and dissipate shock exerted thereto.
The noted mouth guards are not your typical “boil and bite” guards and, hence, can, and in many instances will, cost in the range of $200-$500.
More recently, sensored mouth guards have also been developed to monitor impact forces and accelerations resulting from blows proximate the jaw. The sensored mouth guards are also quite expensive; typically costing in the range of $1500-$2500.
Although the incidences of sports-related traumatic brain injuries can be substantially reduced by using a mouth guard, the ability of a mouth guard to do so is primarily dependent upon the mouth guard properly aligning the jaw of the athlete. Similarly, sensored mouth guards must also be properly aligned to accurately monitor impact forces and accelerations.
Since many of the available mouth guards, including the aforementioned mouth guards, do not include tethers or other fastening means to retain (or store) the mouth guard, many athletes wedge the mouth guard snugly between the bars of the facemask or simply hold the mouth guard with their teeth. Such actions can, and in many instances will, deform the mouth guard, resulting in misalignment of the mouth guard and, hence, jaw when re-inserted in the mouth.
It would thus be desirable to provide apparatus, systems and methods for safely securing mouth guards to a variety of helmets that maintains the integrity of the mouth guard.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide mouth guard retention means and associated methods for securing mouth guards during non-use to a variety of helmets that maintain the integrity of the mouth guards.
It is another object of the present invention to provide mouth guard retention means and associated methods that facilitate quick and easy placement, retention and removal of mouth guards.